"The Dark Knight"

In the seven years since the attacks of September 11, 2001, we've heard endless commentary about what motivates terrorists, how to combat them, and what the perpetual threat of attacks means for the survival of a free and open society. Could it be that a blockbuster action movie provides some of the most fascinating analysis of these complex themes?

At the outset of "The Dark Knight," Gotham is on the verge of being cleansed of crime, thanks to the joint efforts of Batman and the idealistic, uncorruptable District Attorney, Harvey Dent (played by the dude from "Thank You for Smoking"). Abruptly, however, the Joker arrives on the scene, causing chaos, assuming control of the city's professional crime circuit, and lashing out with random acts of violence.

The late Heath Ledger has received fawning reviews for his role as the Joker, and these are deserved. If his name did not appear in the final credits, it'd be impossible to know that it was him playing this role; the departure from his previous characters (both physically and otherwise) is astounding. Ledger makes the Joker creepy (with a lip-licking tic and a hunched gait) and sociopathic, but with a frightening sort of wisdom about the efficacy of his methods and an impeccable sense of comedic timing.

Most interesting to me, however, was the Joker's commentary about terrorism. The Joker is not quite comparable to the enemies of the United States. Whereas al Qaeda et. al. have political grievances, the Joker is almost nihilistic. I say "almost" because he does believe in one thing: creating chaos. He doesn't care about money -- going so far as to burn millions upon millions of his own ill-gotten cash -- and he has no political axe to grind. Instead, he takes a sadistic pleasure in showing "the planners" (the police, politicians, even Batman) how stupid and shortsighted their best-laid plans actually are. The Joker particularly enjoys the effects that his random acts of madness have on the city's psyche. When events diverge from the expected course of conduct, he explains, people panic and civilization breaks down. In perhaps the most powerful part of his monlogue, the Joker tells Batman that were he to kill a drug dealer or shoot a soldier on his way to battle, no one would bat an eye; but kill a little old lady, and the city freaks out.

The parallels to the current state of the world are obvious: terrorism is effective because it disrupts our expectations -- certain places and people once considered safe no longer are. Those in charge have fancy, elaborate plans for combatting the problem, but the plans (in hindsight) appear clumsy and terribly ineffective. And finally, athough fear is an understandable and natural reaction, an open society does itself a terrible disservice by panicking and throwing away all of the things that made it worthwhile. That a mid-summer action movie can get across these themes without seeming ham-handed or over the top is extremely impressive.